|
United
Nations:
Preliminary Report on Adoption Fraud
ADVANCE
EDITED VERSION
Distr. General 6 January 2003 Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION
ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty-ninth session
Item
13 of the provisional agenda
RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Report submitted by M. Juan Miguel Petit, Special Rapporteur,
on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/92.
E/CN/2002/79
page 25
IV. OTHER ISSUES IN FOCUS
A. Adoption
110.
 During
the course of 2002, the Special Rapporteur received many complaints
relating to allegedly fraudulent adoption practices. Where
such practices have the effect that the child becomes the
object of a commercial transaction, the Special Rapporteur,
like his predecessor, considers that such cases fall within
the "sale" element of his mandate. The Special Rapporteur
was shocked to learn of the plethora of human rights abuses
which appear to permeate the adoption systems of many countries*.
The
Special Rapporteur considers that the best environment for
most children to grow up in is within a family, and that the
adoption by a parent or parents of a child who does not have
a family able to look after him or her is a commendable and
noble action. Regrettably, in many cases, the emphasis has
changed from the desire to provide a needy child with a home,
to that of providing a needy parent with a child. As a result,
a whole industry has grown, generating millions of dollars
of revenues each year, seeking babies for adoption and charging
prospective parents enormous fees to process paperwork.
The
problems surrounding many intercountry adoptions in which
children are taken from poor families in undeveloped countries
and given to parents in developed countries, have become quite
well known, but the Special Rapporteur was alarmed to hear
of certain practices within developed countries, including
the use of fraud and coercion to persuade single mothers to
give up their children.
111.
Given
the particular nature of many cases received, the Special
Rapporteur brought the information received to the attention
of other appropriate United Nations mechanisms and intends
to continue to address such abuses when they fall within the
parameters of the mandate.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Editor's
Note: Canada and the States are two of those countries.
|
